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CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 15, 2017

Brooke Henderson

Naples, Florida

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back many we're here with Brooke Henderson, fifth in the race to the CME Globe; two wins this season. Meyer LPGA Classic and the McKayson New Zealand Women's Open; eight top 10s in 2017. Playing in her third CME with a best finish of 13th in 2015. How are you feeling today, Brooke?

BROOKE HENDERSON: I'm great, yeah. I'm really excited to be here for my third CME Tour Championship. I love the position I'm in. Hopefully I'll make it interesting.

THE MODERATOR: You have quietly snuck you way through the season. You have the two wins; it's been an incredibly steady season for you. How do you feel your game is coming into play this week?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, you know, it was a big goal of mine to get into the Top 5 and to give myself the chance to control my own destiny this week.

I'm very happy to be in that fifth position. I know there are very talented players ahead of me and behind me chasing that money box.

I feel like my game is in a really good place this week. Like you said, it's been steady, a little bit up and down; two wins though that I'm really heaped and excited about. Hopefully I can get my third this week.

Q. You've played in 29 tournaments this year. We've only got two players on tour who have played in more. That's less that you played last year when you played 31. How do you keep yourself in balance with all the travel and rigors that go with playing a long and steady schedule?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I love traveling with my older sister, Brittany, who also caddies for me. To be able to travel around the world is really cool for us; to get to go over to Asia for four weeks.

We took last week off, so we were here in North America and got adjusted to the time change. Took a week to relax and get rested, because I knew this week was going to be a big one.

I feel like my game is in a great spot. Travel is kind of tough at times, but I think just the adrenaline of new places all the time really keeps us going.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Given where you are, you talked about the money box, how important is that relative to things like Player of the Year, being No. 1 in the world? Where did you rank the CME Globe in that?
BROOKE HENDERSON: You know, all those are incredible honors. One year if I could win one or all three of those it would really be incredible.

This year I think my main focus is the CME Tour Championship, just the Race to the CME Globe, because that's the position I'm in.

Going into next year, 2018, if I can have a great season, standout season, then I'll shift my focus more to those other awards possibly.

Q. To follow up on that, last year you win a major; get up to No. 2 in the word. This year you won two times and had a slew of top 10s. Is it a disappointing year or a is it year that you're like, You know what, this was a pretty good follow up?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I believe it was a great follow up to last year. I had really a miracle season or the perfect season last year. So many things went perfect for me. This year I kind of battled through a little bit more, a little bit more up and down.

But to get two wins out here with the amount of talented players and the consistency that's out here on the LPGA Tour, and I'm really proud of that.

I would love to get my third win this week. I feel like the last few days, my team, we've really worked hard on a good strategy, good plan, in getting my game ready.

Now it's just up to me the next four days.

Q. What are you doing better this year that you didn't do last year?
BROOKE HENDERSON: You know, mentally I think I'm a lot stronger than I was last year, which is a big improvement. Definitely helps on and off the course. I feel I'm a lot more energized and ready to go to play this last event of the year.

Then I'll take a break and get ready for 2018.

Q. What did you do to get started? Are you talking about mentally stronger?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, mentally stronger.

Q. How did you do that?
BROOKE HENDERSON: I think it just comes with practice a little bit. It's a lifelong process I do believe. I feel like I saw a big improvement last year to this year. Just shifting my focuses to what's important and throwing away things that really don't matter that much.

Q. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about how your game compares from a last year to this year. Outside of the mental obviously.
BROOKE HENDERSON: I think last year winning the major championship was a highlight for me. That was amazing. I saw a lot of benefits from that. My world ranking moved up; my CME ranking was No. 3 last year.

But to get it to No. 5 this year and follow up like I did, you know, I'm really happy and excited about.

I finished third at the end of the year in CME last year, so hopefully I'll move that fifth up a little bit better this year.

Q. Each year hopefully you get a little smarter. Are you going to play fewer events next year, or is this a number you feel comfortable with?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I was happy with my schedule last year, too. My first year out on tour I wanted to get the full experience. You know, I wanted to try different events out and see which ones fit my game the best and which ones were easy to travel to, et cetera.

This year I did take a few more off. I skipped Blue Bay just because traveling would've been extremely difficult. I skipped the Scottish Open. Same thing: travel just wasn't ideal for me.

That way maybe we've become maybe a little bit smarter in picking and choosing, but I feel like my schedules have been the correct schedules for the way I've been playing, the way I've been feeling, and the way the years have been setting up.

Q. I don't know if this makes any sense, but the fact that Park and Feng are also playing for Player of the Year, et cetera, being the No. 5 seed, does it give you a little bit more freedom than the ones that might be 1 or 2 where the expectations might be higher?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, you know, for me to win this week, basically I have to win if I want to win the Race to the CME Globe. Maybe they are feeling a little bit more pressure. For me, I know I have to play really good golf over the next four days.

You can't force it too much. Just got to be patient and trust in the plans and all the preparation that we have done thus far for this week. Hopefully I'll make it something special.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else? We'll close with one more question for you. As you said, you're one of the five players who could take home the $1 million with the win. No pressure.

If you do get the $1 million, what would you do with it?

BROOKE HENDERSON: That's a good question. Really haven't thought about it too much. Just going to focus on the next four days, and then hopefully on Sunday I can make that decision.

THE MODERATOR: No little splurges in mind?

Q. What's the nicest thing you've every bought for yourself?
BROOKE HENDERSON: I bought a condo, so that was pretty nice. That's it, though.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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